LRH - single "do it all" rifle or 2 gun battery?

[Pulpwood]

It's called therapy!

 

[Pulpwood]

People in the city pay thousands of dollars to talk to their doctor, country boys shoot their guns , get on a zero turn mower with a cold beverage or get on a tractor and bush hog for a while (so he don't have to listen to the wife telling him all the things around the house she needs for him to change , fix, paint ......)

 

[TX Badger]

I hadn't seen that you can get shouldered prefits for the origin, is that true? If I'm not mistaken, the Origin action isn't cut for a wyatt length box which would limit COAL with the 6.5 PRC, correct?

Not sure about shouldered but Bighorns take Savage prefits, you can swap yourself in 10 minutes, saves on Smith fees, they are a 700 footprint so all the aftermarket stuff works/is compatible, the bolt heads are also interchangeable so you can swap those too.

If I were starting from scratch I'd buy one top of the line scope with a wide Mag range for different situations, a top of the line carbon fiber stock, a Bighorn action. And start collecting barrels in chamberings I liked. The first 2 would be a 257 for varmints to deer plus fun shooting and practice and a 7mm Rem Mag for everything bigger/longer.

 

[SteelBanger]

Thank you to everyone who has responded, you've all given me quite a bit to consider. Given that this will need to be a "do it all rifle" for at least a few years, I think getting into a switch barrel setup is a smart way to start off and the West Texas Ordinance switch lug system looks look a great way to do it. I can get a top quality optic and stock, and then share them with different barrels until I can afford to pick up additional parts to build out individual rifles.

This brings me to a new topic regarding my old rem action vs getting into a custom action for this single, high end, do it all rifle ... i'll spin up a new thread for that however.

 

[Charles P]

Here is where I went wrong. I blue printed a 700 receiver and installed a Shilen match barrel at 26". Chambered for 280 Ackley. Used a McMillian stock and a 30mm Leopold scope. Never once did I consider the weight of the final rifle. Took it out west and learned a high altitude lesson on rifle weight. Sold the rifle to a friend. She was a sweet shooting rifle but difficult to carry afield or get in and out of a box stand. Now I am tuning a 7-08 to be my primary rifle. Much lighter and friendlier.

 

[Tidus56]

Here is where I went wrong. I blue printed a 700 receiver and installed a Shilen match barrel at 26". Chambered for 280 Ackley. Used a McMillian stock and a 30mm Leopold scope. Never once did I consider the weight of the final rifle. Took it out west and learned a high altitude lesson on rifle weight. Sold the rifle to a friend. She was a sweet shooting rifle but difficult to carry afield or get in and out of a box stand. Now I am tuning a 7-08 to be my primary rifle. Much lighter and friendlier.

My first build I did I totally didn't think about the weight and my rifle ended up being 14 pounds. That's just to heavy to work with.

 

[SteelBanger]

Here is where I went wrong. I blue printed a 700 receiver and installed a Shilen match barrel at 26". Chambered for 280 Ackley. Used a McMillian stock and a 30mm Leopold scope. Never once did I consider the weight of the final rifle. Took it out west and learned a high altitude lesson on rifle weight. Sold the rifle to a friend. She was a sweet shooting rifle but difficult to carry afield or get in and out of a box stand. Now I am tuning a 7-08 to be my primary rifle. Much lighter and friendlier.

Weight is a significant consideration for this build. Sub 10# fully equipped for sure but I'd like to be somewhere around 8#. Stock will be carbon fiber, or possibly the XLR magnesium Element 3.0 because it's really caught my eye and I really like what a chassis can do, glass i'm not too sure about, but it would need to be in the 30oz range. Barrel will also be carbon fiber.

 

[The Hock]

As I read through this thread I felt old. I remember reading an article in the American Rifleman years ago written by the late Col. Charles Askins on the topic of having one rifle and what it should be. He opined a 340 Weatherby should be it.

More to the point of this thread... if I were limited to two rifles they'd be: 1) a 338 RUM, the near ballistic twin of the 340 Weatherby & 2) a 223. If we add a shotgun it would be the ubiquitous 12 gage.

Fortunately God has not seem fit to limit me to only two. However, those are two (three) I depend upon.

 

[Chase723]

If you can swing it, build 2 or 3 great ones. This is just me but I'd pick a smaller cartridge (.223 or 6mm) that you will shoot most often in a rifle that weighs 10-11lbs and is great for deer, a larger cartridge for a medium/large game hunting rifle (something 7mm or larger, but also weighs ~10-11lbs scoped) and then a dedicated LR rig in the same caliber but where weight isn't an issue. That'll let you shoot a lot, minimize the reloading burden, and let you get proficient with the cartridge.

 

[dogz]

I totally get the whole kids, lack of money tree and all. That said, I'll suggest something totally from left field. You have enough in life to keep you busy. Consider an easier route and a much less expensive route.

Sell the 700 long action, buy a T3 Lite in 6.5 CM or their CTR in the same round. Stick a SWFA on top and get to it. The round will do all you need to 500 and much longer and your life will be much easier. Unless you're truly into all the gun gack (and there was a day when I was but it costs a ton load of money and time...).

Personally, I'd rather be shooting, hunting etc.

Then when you're a bit more ready to go down a semi custom build consider a 8 twist 7 RM, it'll make your life easy as well.

Never sacrifice precious time and money that could be used for hunting to build guns, or at least consider that... and I totally get that this isn't what you asked. Sorry for the departure in advance.

Bottom line so much of this is costly and real world doesn't do much for us. Or at least that's my opinion.

 

[Mram10us]

You can make most actions into a switch barrel to meet 99% of your needs. I just build a tc compass, spot welded a rem recoil lug and now have 4 barrels I switch (7-08ai,6.5cm,308 and 6.5br KLR). Lots of ways to get where you only need one action and chassis/stock/scope.

 

[emp1953]

When is this social distancing supposed to end, my wife keeps trying to get back in the house.

 

[SteelBanger]

I totally get the whole kids, lack of money tree and all. That said, I'll suggest something totally from left field. You have enough in life to keep you busy. Consider an easier route and a much less expensive route.

Sell the 700 long action, buy a T3 Lite in 6.5 CM or their CTR in the same round. Stick a SWFA on top and get to it. The round will do all you need to 500 and much longer and your life will be much easier. Unless you're truly into all the gun gack (and there was a day when I was but it costs a ton load of money and time...).

Personally, I'd rather be shooting, hunting etc.

Then when you're a bit more ready to go down a semi custom build consider a 8 twist 7 RM, it'll make your life easy as well.

Never sacrifice precious time and money that could be used for hunting to build guns, or at least consider that... and I totally get that this isn't what you asked. Sorry for the departure in advance.

Bottom line so much of this is costly and real world doesn't do much for us. Or at least that's my opinion.

Thanks for the reply Dogz, this isn't left field stuff at all, in fact it's the correct answer to the question. I have $1,500 wrapped up into a custom action and a triggertech trigger sitting on my bench waiting on additional funding for parts. If I had put that $1,500 into a Tikka 6.5CM I'd have a pretty decent scope on it and shooting already. So that's really, for most people, probably the way to go. For me, I'm just a custom guy through and through and I know I'm playing the long game as my western game hunting won't start for a couple more years so I have the time to prepare for it, and I have other guns to continue shooting while I wait. I'd be lying though if I said there wasn't a small part of me that wishes I had that Tikka setup and shooting already.

 

[SteelBanger]

When is this social distancing supposed to end, my wife keeps trying to get back in the house.

15 days emp, hold out it's for her own good!!